Just one case of Covid-19 was recorded in Rutland yesterday, helping the 7-day case rate fall to a low for 2021.

There were also no recorded deaths.

The government's Covid19 tracker now puts the county on 1569 recorded cases since the start of the pandemic- about one for every 25 residents.

Over the past week, 28 cases have been recorded, giving a 7-day case rate of 70.1, which compares with the England average of 60.3 cases per 100,000.

The England case rate has been consistently falling, while Rutland this year has suffered two 'spikes' caused by outbreaks at HMP Stocken.

The number of deaths, which has remained at 60 for a week, amounts to almost one death for each 600 Rutland residents.

Meanwhile, in Lincolnshire, no deaths with Covid-19 were again recorded in South Kesteven yesterday, but the district reported 17 cases.

The figures released yesterday afternoon shows the district has gone without a fatality since two were recorded on Monday, but the 7-day case rate has increased slightly.

Some 85 cases were recorded in South Kesteven over the past seven days (compared with 80 in the week to Wednesday), giving the district a rate of 59.7 cases per 100,000.

The total number of cases in the district is 6957, which means around one-in-20 residents will have tested positive with the virus at some stage.

The number of deaths, which remains at 263, means that almost one-in-500 will have died with Covid-19 during the pandemic to date.

There have been 183 new coronavirus cases and eight COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Thursday, a rise from 114 cases and six deaths this time last week.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 118 new cases in Lincolnshire, 35 in North Lincolnshire and 30 in North East Lincolnshire.

On Thursday, seven deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and one in North East Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

National cases increased by 6,753 to 4,241,677, while deaths rose by 181 to 125,168.

Nationally, the COVID surge in January hit key services including cancer and routine surgery, NHS England figures show.

Less than half the expected number of operations were done, pushing the waiting list to a record-high of 4.6 million.

The European Medicines Agency has launched an investigation into the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab after reports of blood clots in vaccinated people.

At present there is no firm evidence to suggest the two are linked and incidents of clotting have not been reported in the UK.

Across seas, Brazil has recorded more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in a day for the first time as a more contagious variant spreads through the country and some hospitals near breaking point.

The health ministry said on Wednesday that 2,286 deaths had been registered in the past 24 hours – beating the record set the day before of 1,954.